How close the visual language of Star Wars: The Force Awakens echos Star Wars: A New Hope

When watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens for the first, second, third or more time, it becomes very obvious that JJ Abrams intended to pay homage to Star Wars: A New Hope. From characters, to locations, and general themes, if often felt like Abrams was channeling the original move over and over again. A new video edit shared on Vimeo today by Zachary Antell shows just how big an homage Abrams created.

Antell’s shot by shot comparison of Episode IV and VII reveal that sometimes it’s an exact beat for beat copy, down to even the gestures made by the actors.

The point isn’t that the movie is a knockoff, but just how visually similar they are. There’s definitely a language of Star Wars. Part of what made the prequels so off was that they didn’t speak that language. The Force Awakens returned to the original language we all learned to speak in 1977 and the familiarity is part of what made it a success at the box office.